Iran | 4 Men Including Brothers Hanged for Murder in Isfahan

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); 4 May 2026: Peyman Mohammadi, Mohammadreza Mohammadi, Abbas Rahimi Azar and Mehdi Badfar, four men on death row for murder, were executed in Isfahan Central Prison.

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, four men were hanged in Isfahan (Dastgerd) Central Prison on 3 May 2026. Their identities have been established as 37-year-old Peyman Mohammadi, 41-year-old Mohammadreza Mohammadi, 29-year-old Abbas Rahimi Azar, an Isfahan native, and 33-year-old Mehdi Badfar. They were all sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder by the Criminal Court.

An informed source told IHRNGO: "Peyman and Mohammadreza Mohammadi, who were brothers, were arrested around four years ago for the murder of a man named 'Fakhreddin.’ Abbas Rahimi Azar was arrested about three years ago for an honour killing.”

The source added: "Mehdi Badfar was a farmer from Chabahar. He was on death row for five years and had a physical disability; three fingers on his left hand had previously been severed while working with a threshing machine."

At the time of writing, their executions have not been reported by domestic media or officials in Iran.

Those charged with the umbrella term of “intentional murder” are sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) regardless of intent or circumstances due to a lack of grading in law. Once a defendant has been convicted, the victim’s family are required to choose between death as retribution, diya (blood money) or forgiveness.

Crucially, while an indicative diya amount is set by the Judiciary every year, there is no legal limit to how much can be demanded by families of the victims. IHRNGO has recorded many cases where defendants are executed because they cannot afford to pay the blood money. Should the victim’s family choose execution, they are not only encouraged to attend, but also to physically carry out the execution themselves.

According to IHRNGO’s 2025 Annual Report on the Death Penalty, at least 747 people including 48 women, were executed for murder charges, the highest number of qisas executions since 2010. Under 7% of the recorded qisas executions were announced by official sources. In 2025, IHRNGO also recorded 566 cases of families choosing diya or forgiveness instead of qisas executions.

Source: Iran Human Rights, Staff, May 4, 2026

"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted."

— Oscar Wilde

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